33 Weeks & Ultrasound!

My little Evan!!

A profile of his head. He's on his back facing the left. His face is right up against my placenta, but you can kind of make out his nose and lips and see his hand curled up on the far left.


Another profile of his head. This one is more distinct, you can see his nose, lips, and chin as well as that cute little curled up hand that he's holding up.


A side view of his foot. It's upside down facing the right. You can see his heel, the arch, the ball of his foot, and his toes.


His cutey foot. Check out that big big toe! He gets it from his daddy.


Yep, he definitely has Matt's feet!


A 3D of the lower part of his face. you can see his chin near the bottom, lips, his fingers that are curled up next to his lips, and his nose up near the top.


A 3D looking down at his face. You can see his eyes, nose, and his hand up by the left side of his face.


A 3D of his face. He's slightly turned and facing the right of the picture. So his forehead is at the top, his cheek is to the left, you can see his eyes, nose, and lips. He has one hand up by his forehead and the other in his mouth. :-)

I never wrote about my appointment on Monday, when I was 32w5d. Everything went great! We had an ultrasound first to see if my placenta moved up, which it has. The ultrasound technician was great, she not only checked the placenta and his growth, she also had some fun letting us see Evan and did a 3D ultrasound even though we didn't ask for one (or pay for one)! At first Evan wouldn't let us see the front of his face, he had it pressed against my placenta. So she couldn't do it, but after getting all of the measurements she needed she said she couldn't stand it, she just had to see if she could get the 3D of his face again. When she tried the second time he had shifted a little bit and we were able to see his face some! He had his hands up around his face at that point, but that made it even cuter!

She had us estimate how large we thought he was and I guessed 4.5 pounds (which is what the book says he should be around 32-33 weeks). The ultrasound tech said that he is measuring 6 lbs 3 oz, plus or minus a pound!! She was convinced he is around 6 pounds though, kept talking about how much meat he has on his bones, how chunky he looks, etc. I was really worried, but when we met with my midwife after the u/s she insisted that there is no way he is that big. She said there's a lot of room between him and my ribs, a normal amount of fluid, and my fundal height is normal. Obviously those measurements can be off as well, but it is true that I still look pretty small and haven't gained all that much weight.

Speaking of weight, I gained back the pounds I lost, plus a pound! I've been feeling so much better the past couple of weeks too. I can tell I'm getting enough to eat. Now I've gained about 21 pounds, right on track. My sugar levels have gone down and have evened out. I'm glad about that, but my dietician said not to be surprised if they start going crazy the next few weeks since the pregnancy growth hormones peak around 35 weeks and that can affect blood sugar levels. But at least they are okay for now.

So I've been pretty nervous the past couple of days about having a huge baby, but as Matt keeps saying, there's nothing we can do about it, so I shouldn't stress. We're having another u/s at 38 weeks to see what his measurements look like then. If he's measuring large, a c-section or induced labor at 39 weeks will be an option. The midwife said they aren't going to do anything before 39 weeks unless it's dangerous not to, but I'm hoping he'll come earlier than that on his own. I actually think it would be great if he comes before 38 weeks, then I won't even have to worry about making decisions like c-sections, inductions, etc. We'll see!!

The nurse gave me a chart to start counting movements. I'm supposed to count 10 distinct movements and time how far apart the first and tenth are. It should be in at least 2 hours. If he gets slower and slower or doesn't move 10 times in 2 hours at some point in the day (especially after dinner) I'm supposed to call the midwife. I was worried that this would be added stress, but so far it's been easy. I've picked around 10:00 - 10:30 AM to count his movements since he usually wakes up about then. So far the longest it's taken him to move 10 times is 6 minutes and that's because I missed his most active phase (I was busy and couldn't count properly or look at a clock). This morning he moved 10 times in 2 minutes, that's his record so far. He's crazy!!

back home

The trip was great!! I had so much fun visiting my family. I miss them a lot, I only wish we lived over there too. The trips went very smoothly. The day I flew there I was exhausted. My shin splints starting flaring up again after I got off the plane (I'm wondering if flying has something to do with it? Or maybe just sitting in the same position for so long) even though I got up 3 times during the 1 hour and 45 minute flight there. I spent the afternoon HERE waiting for my dad to finish teaching his class and come pick me up. He was teaching on a military base and so I couldn't go in to meet him like I would for one of his normal classes. The presidential library isn't my first choice of where to spend several hours, but it was air conditioned, had lots of benches, and they held my luggage behind the desk so I didn't have to carry it around with me. However, I was very glad when 4:00 rolled around and Dad was there to pick me up!!

We drove out to Fort Smith and I was able to spend much of Friday relaxing and resting my legs and feet, which were still bothering me. My grandma and I went shopping that afternoon and she bought Evan several little things that could fit in my suitcase. That evening people started arriving for her anniversary party. It was also my great-grandmother's 88th birthday last week and so we had a birthday party for her on Friday night with a huge brisket dinner, cake, 2 pies, and presents!

Grandmother (my great-grandma) at her party:

That night I actually had to sleep on the sofa at my aunt's house because there wasn't enough room at my grandma's house anymore. It was crazy, everyone was sleeping on couches, the floor, every bed was filled. I was happy to give up my bed for my great-grandmother though. It actually worked out great because I was downstairs by myself, near a bathroom, so I didn't have to worry about waking the rest of the house up when I got up 4 times. I slept there the next night too even though I was offered a bed that time.

Me & Evan, Grandmother, and Dad:

Saturday was my grandparents' 50th anniversary party. It was gorgeous! More family from out of town arrived and although the day was about my grandparents, Evan received a lot of attention and some presents too. :-) We relaxed some more after the party, everyone sat around talking at my grandparents' house and there were lots of leftovers for dinner. I even splurged and ate a little piece of cake that night!

My grandparents at their anniversary party:

Sunday my entire family was still around and we all had a big lunch together. My dad and I had to leave to drive to Little Rock shortly after and the return flight home went smoothly as well. My dad didn't even leave security at the airport, he had a flight to Birmingham an hour after our plane landed. So I said bye to him and headed down to the baggage claim area where Matt was waiting on me!! It was great to see him and I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me at home. He had fixed up the closet in the nursery. It's painted (the walls in there were dented, scratched, and had dirt and black marks all over), the shelves are up, it has new doors, and he even put some of Evan's toys and other things on the shelves!


It's good to be home, yesterday I didn't have much of a chance to rest, but I'll post about that later. :-)

journey

I'm about to begin my journey to Arkansas. It starts with sleeping over at my in-laws' house (that right there should be an adventure! ;-)), then MIL is driving me to the airport tomorrow morning. From there I'll fly to Little Rock and spend tomorrow afternoon there (alone) until I meet up with my dad in the evening. Then tomorrow night my dad and I will be driving to Fort Smith. Finally I'll get there and spend a couple of days with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. My grandparents have having their 50th anniversary party on Saturday and so I'm sure a lot of my extended family from Texas will be coming up for that.

I'll be flying home Sunday night so I'll be sure to post on Monday to tell y'all about it!

this & that

Things are going better today! I actually haven't done much at all, just been laying around the house relaxing. I'll be going to the library in a little bit though. I'm trying to decide what to do about dinner...planning meals is always an effort now.

The GD situation isn't going very well. I met with a dietician this past Friday again. I have appointments every other week and the weeks I don't go in I fax my sugar levels to them. I can't describe how discouraging it was to receive a phone call from one of the dieticians last Monday going over every little thing I had eaten that made my sugar levels go up. Hearing about everything you ate in a negative way is no fun. That dietician's main conclusion - I can't eat any other carbs if I have any type of bread at a meal. That puts me at having 20 carbs max per meal (if I eat bread, buns, tortillas, etc). I'm supposed to have a minimum of 30 carbs per meal and my other dietician had told me to try to stay around the limit of 45 since I was losing weight. Great. And for those of you who say "then just don't eat any of that stuff," I'll just let you know that the diet plan recommendation I was given has some type of bread listed for every meal, it's one of the main ways to get carbs that are needed.

So last week I did pretty well the first part of the week, then the levels were back up. The dietician I met with thought that having high protein meals was helping the levels. She thinks if I up my protein intake at each meal then I can eat more than 20 carbs. She was concerned because I lost 3 pounds last week. Which now puts my total weight gain this pregnancy at 16 pounds. I need to eat more, but I can't because if I do my sugar levels go way up!! So she gave me some advice to try out, said to try to eat ice cream just before bed instead of earlier in the evening. However, the past few days have not gone well at all. My waking levels are higher than they've ever been. I was already eating protein at every meal, but now I'm trying to boost it by eating peanuts and cheese along with whatever else I'm eating. The dietician said that if my levels remain high even after following all of that advice that I may need to go on insulin. I'm really hoping to get it under control though.... It's so hard because my first instinct is not to eat as much at each meal/snack to keep my levels down, but I know I shouldn't be doing that because of the weight loss.


I haven't done any work on the nursery since last month. I'm waiting for after my shower to finish decorating, then I'll post pictures! We are going to install shelves in the closet, put up new closet doors, and we still need to put up the bedroom door as well (we took it off to paint). I also want to buy a wall decal to put over the crib. I want something with his initial or name on it. I also saw a cool mirror at Target that I'm thinking about putting over his dresser/changing table.

Our breastfeeding class was Thursday night. I'm so glad that we took it together! I already knew a lot of stuff from the class I took with my friend (5 years ago...wow, it doesn't seem like it was that long ago!), but I did learn several new things and it has definitely made me feel more confident about breastfeeding. I ordered a breast pump last week, I found a super good deal on it! The pump I wanted was $140, I got it for $82 with free shipping! I found it on THIS site already discounted, plus they were having a deal that you got even more off if you paid with PayPal.

I want the pump because I don't want to breastfeed in public (my own personal choice, I don't mind if other women do it, it's just ME) so I want to be able to have a bottle handy for when we go out. Plus, we are planning a couple of road trips the first few months after Evan is born. One to Arkansas...18 hours. So I want the option to give him a bottle for some feedings during the trip. I also think I'll be more likely to keep breastfeeding him the entire first year if I can have the option of giving him bottles at times.

Well that's it for now...remember, only encouraging comments are welcome about my situation!

*sigh*

Matt is out of town and I'm all alone. I went to church with my mom and sister...the evening service. I just got back home. My mom wanted us to go out to eat together after, but my sister was being so rude and mean. So I said I'd rather just go home...but now I feel bad. I shouldn't have let her spoil time I could have spent with Mom. I don't know why she has such a horrible attitude so much. Mom said she was fine when they were out shopping just before picking me up. I wonder if it has something to do with me. Oh well, I just have hurt feelings and no one to talk to about it so here I am...

Matt is gone, my dad is gone, Mom and my sister are going out of town tomorrow, my brother is living out of town this summer. I'm going out of town Thursday morning. I wish someone was here to keep me company the next few days. Hopefully it'll go by fast.

31 Weeks & Maternity Center Tour

Today Evan is about 16 inches long and weighs about 3.3 pounds! Here's what else BabyCenter has to say about him: "He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy." And yep, it's true! This morning I could have slept later, but his thrashing around kept me up. :-) The past couple of days he's really taken it up a notch. He's moving more and it is much stronger. He's also taken a liking to my far right side, especially right up against or under my ribs. I have to say, sometimes I want him to stop kicking because it hurts. When I think about it though I'm really grateful that he's moving so much, I know how depressing it is when he doesn't move as often and I also know it means he's healthy. But my first instinct when he's kicking so hard is "make it stop!" Haha, there is no way to make him stop, but I've found that pressing lightly over the spot where he's kicking helps absorb the impact.

I think I may have felt Braxton Hicks contractions last night for the first time. I'm not 100% sure though. Right after I laid down to go to bed it felt like Evan was kicking my bladder or something deep inside me. But after a bit I realized it felt more like all of my insides, at least down low, were being squeezed. It wasn't really painful, just uncomfortable. It felt like if it lasted too much longer it would be painful, but just as it got to that point it would stop. It happened several times over 10-15 minutes, but I didn't start thinking it might be BH until the last 3 that happened. So I think I had about 6 over the entire time period, maybe 2 more if those "kicks" I felt at first were also BH. It'll be interesting to see if it happens again. And like I said, who knows if they were really BH or maybe Evan was just squishing things down there over and over?

The maternity center tour was great! I'm very excited about delivery now! I really liked the maternity center at our hospital better than the others I've been to before (which is a grand total of 2, one hospital where my friend delivered and then the one my SIL delivered at last year). It's a completely separate building, but it's connected to the back of the hospital by a single door. There's separate parking and the entire place has a very comfortable and homey feel. You wouldn't even know you were near a hospital once you're inside! Even the parking lot is nicer, it's removed from the hospital parking and away from all of the roads nearby. The family waiting room was very comfortable and nice. There are several kitchenettes that give away drinks and food to the families. The rooms are all private and you labor, deliver, and recover in them. They all either have patios or bay windows and they all have whirlpool tubs, refridgerators, flat screen TVs, and DVD players as well as fold out beds that come out of the wall for the hubbies to sleep in.

The hospital is very "family oriented," they want the babies to spend as little time in the nursery as possible although you can request that the nurse take them there if you need rest. As a matter of fact, the nursery was empty when we were there because the babies were all with their parents. They do everything in the room like bathing, weighing, tests, etc unless there are special medical needs that can't be provided in the room. They provide birthing balls and other than requiring you to be hooked up to a fetal monitor for 20 minutes when you first come in, you can go the rest of the time off monitors to walk around freely (unless there's a reason that you need to be continually monitored). All in all I am very pleased with it, especially the fact that it doesn't feel at all like a hospital, I was very comfortable in there. And I hate hospitals, the times I've been to visit my friend and SIL I was so uncomfortable and nervous. I figured I'd be that way when having my own baby too, but nope, I liked it there!

4th of July

Matt and I had a really fun 4th. He had Friday off and we went to the huge outlet store that is pretty far away, but fun for a day trip. We went to the Motherhood, Old Navy, and Carter's outlets and found some really good deals! I bought 2 pairs of denim capris, another maternity cami, and a maternity dress. The other day I went back to the consignment shop I love and bought a couple of shirts so now I am totally set for the next couple of months. I've been really lucky to get things VERY cheap, I have an entire maternity wardrobe for less than half of what I'd normally pay for that many new clothes. Also, all of my maternity clothes are so cute! I love them. :-) I know have a hard time finding something to wear just because I have so many options. A new conundrum for me. It will actually be kind of sad when I'm not pregnant anymore and can't wear all of my clothes. Maybe I'll get to wear them next time around.

Matt also picked out a few onesies at the Carter's outlet. So cute! 2 have dinosaurs on them and one says "Wiggle" with a picture of an inch worm underneath. Our little wiggle worm. :-) I told Matt I need a shirt that says that with an arrow pointing at my belly. Evan has been moving around so much lately.

Saturday we spent the day relaxing around the house until we went to my parents' house for a cookout. After that we went to see the fireworks in the town they live near. They put on a great show and we had a great spot to sit and watch. It was a lot of fun! The weather was great this past weekend, much cooler than it has been. So it was the perfect temperature for spending time outside.

It's good that it's been cool the past few days because our AC is broken...again! We're hoping it will be fixed tonight. Yesterday the high was 86 degrees, but it was so humid and muggy. We also have a new stove. Matt's office manager was selling his flat glass top stove for very cheap. It wasn't even that old, but his family is completely renovating their house and getting all new appliances. We installed it on Thursday night and it looks and works great! I'm so happy to have it because it will be SO much easier to clean. Plus, it's great to have burners that are even. The ones on our old stove were tilted and it was hard to cook on.

Tomorrow we tour the maternity center at the hospital we'll be delivering at! I'm so excited!